Twitter Buys Company That Mines Chatter About TV

Twitter confirmed on Tuesday that it is acquiring Bluefin Labs, a company that analyzes online chatter about TV shows and companies and sells its findings.

Twitter is paying nearly $100 million for Bluefin, according to a person with direct knowledge of the sale, making it the Web site’s biggest acquisition to date. The person insisted on anonymity because the terms of the deal were not disclosed publicly.

The deal suggests a new line of business for Twitter, which is under pressure to increase its revenues. Bluefin bills itself as a social TV analytics company, one of many that have cropped up as Facebook and Twitter have created an instantaneous stream of commentary that helps inform television producers and distributors. Companies like CBS, which televised the Super Bowl on Sunday, pay Bluefin for information about what’s being said about them online.

“We believe that Bluefin’s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products andconsumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV,” the Twitter chief operating officer, Ali Rowghani, said in a blog post about the deal.

Bluefin’s backers have invested about $20 million in the company to date. The impending deal with Twitter was first reported on Monday afternoon by Business Insider.

Bluefin will remain a separate arm of Twitter. Bluefin’s office in Cambridge, Mass., will become an outpost for Twitter.

The acquisition comes six weeks after Twitter and Nielsen announced a partnership to provide a “Nielsen Twitter TV rating” for broadcasters and advertisers. Nielsen and one of its joint ventures, NM Incite, bought a smaller competitor of Bluefin’s, called SocialGuide, in November. The terms of that acquisition were not disclosed, but SocialGuide’s technology will help to fuel the Twitter TV ! rating service, which is supposed to become available in the fall.

Costs at ESPN Depress Disney Profits

LOS ANGELES - Higher costs at ESPN and lower DVD sales resulted in a 6 percent decline in quarterly profit at Disney, the company said on Tuesday. But Disney’s video game and Web unit finally swung to the black and the conglomerate steered attention toward potential future growth fueled by the “Star Wars” franchise.

Robert A. Iger, chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, speaking on CNBC shortly after the market’s close, said that Disney’s newly acquired Lucasfilm division would produce “a few” additional movies in the coming years that feature characters and stories from the “Star Wars” universe.

Lawrence Kasdan, known for his work on “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” and Simon Kinberg, a screenwriter whose credits include “Sherlock Holmes,” are both working on the “stand-alone” films, Mr. Iger said. Disney has previously announced plans to make installments seven, eight and nine in the “Star Wars” saga over a six-yea period starting in 2015.

Investors and analysts had been expecting a bumpy quarter. Disney made the unusual decision in November to note publicly some of its upcoming difficulties, like higher ESPN programming costs and a calendar quirk that would hurt theme parks by moving part of the New Year’s holiday into a different quarter.

Even so, Disney beat Wall Street estimates of 76 cents a share. For the quarter, which ended on Dec. 29, Disney reported net income of $1.38 billion, or 77 cents a share, down from $1.46 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges and gains, Disney reported 79 cents a share for the most recent quarter, the first in the company’s fiscal year.

Revenue climbed 5 percent, to $11.3 billion.

ESPN had a significant impact on Disney’s quarter, with programming expenses increasing for football and basketball. Those costs held back results for Disney’s media networks uni! t, which houses the cable sports behemoth; operating income there increased a tepid 2 percent, to $1.21 billion. The growth came from Disney Channel, ABC Family and higher ad sales at the ABC broadcast network.

The biggest drag on Disney’s quarter, however, came from Walt Disney Studios, which reported a 43 percent drop in operating income, to $234 million. The problem involved comparability: DVD sales for “Brave” and “Cinderella” were slight compared with disc releases in the same period a year earlier, notably “Cars 2” and “The Lion King.”

Theme parks continued to be a bright spot. Operating income in Disney’s parks and resorts division, watched as a barometer of the broader economy, increased 4 percent in the most recent quarter, to $577 million. Higher attendance at Disneyland Resort in California, where a “Cars”-themed area opened last summer, contributed to the growth, as did strong bookings on the company’s Fantasy cruise ship.

Interactive media, a businss unit that includes video games and Disney.com, swung to an operating profit of $9 million after 16 consecutive quarters of losses. The company cited growth from Disney-branded cellphones in Japan as part of the reason.

Sirius Reports Revenue and Subscriber Growth in 2012

Sirius XM Radio reported strong subscriber and revenue growth for 2012 on Tuesday and described new features that the company hopes will put competitive pressure on Internet radio services like Pandora and Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio.

Sirius had $3.4 billion in revenue in 2012, up 13 percent from the year before, and it ended 2012 with 23.9 million subscribers, up two million, the company’s biggest annual subscriber gain since 2007.

For the year, it had $3.5 billion in net income, largely because of a $3 billion income tax benefit, and $920 million in adjusted earnings. For the fourth quarter, Sirius had $892 million in revenue, a 14 percent gain from the same period the year before but lower than the $899 million that analysts had expected.

It matched earnings estimates of 2 cents a share for the fourth quarter. In midday trading, Sirius’s stock was down slightly on the news.

Last month, Liberty Media, the company controlled by the billionaire investor John C. Malone, took cntrol of Sirius after nearly a year of buying shares on the open market. The earnings announcement on Tuesday was the first with Sirius’s new interim chief executive, James E. Meyer, who in December succeeded Sirius’s longtime chief, Mel Karmazin.

At the beginning of 2012, Sirius raised its subscriber fees by $1 to $1.50 per month. It was the first time that Sirius has raised prices, and only the second time XM had done so, Mr. Meyer said in a conference call with investors. (The two satellite radio services merged in 2008.)

But that price hike appears to have had little effect on Sirius’s subscriber growth, which has been helped by an improved market for new cars as well as the gradual spread of Sirius’s availability in used cars. The company says that 50 million cars now on the road are able to receive Sirius.

On the call Tuesday, Sirius executives discussed new ! features like MySXM, which is now in public beta testing. Like Pandora or iHeartRadio, it is a custom radio feature that will let listeners tailor Sirius broadcasts to their tastes, and it will compete against those companies as more services push to introduce advanced listening features in new cars.

“MySXM users will now hear more of the music they love tailored to how they want to hear it,” Mr. Meyer said on the conference call. “If they happen to hear a song they don’t like, MySXM will let them skip it.”

Ben Sisario writes about the music industry. Follow @sisario on Twitter.

Sirius Reports Revenue and Subscriber Growth in 2012

Sirius XM Radio reported strong subscriber and revenue growth for 2012 on Tuesday and described new features that the company hopes will put competitive pressure on Internet radio services like Pandora and Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio.

Sirius had $3.4 billion in revenue in 2012, up 13 percent from the year before, and it ended 2012 with 23.9 million subscribers, up two million, the company’s biggest annual subscriber gain since 2007.

For the year, it had $3.5 billion in net income, largely because of a $3 billion income tax benefit, and $920 million in adjusted earnings. For the fourth quarter, Sirius had $892 million in revenue, a 14 percent gain from the same period the year before but lower than the $899 million that analysts had expected.

It matched earnings estimates of 2 cents a share for the fourth quarter. In midday trading, Sirius’s stock was down slightly on the news.

Last month, Liberty Media, the company controlled by the billionaire investor John C. Malone, took cntrol of Sirius after nearly a year of buying shares on the open market. The earnings announcement on Tuesday was the first with Sirius’s new interim chief executive, James E. Meyer, who in December succeeded Sirius’s longtime chief, Mel Karmazin.

At the beginning of 2012, Sirius raised its subscriber fees by $1 to $1.50 per month. It was the first time that Sirius has raised prices, and only the second time XM had done so, Mr. Meyer said in a conference call with investors. (The two satellite radio services merged in 2008.)

But that price hike appears to have had little effect on Sirius’s subscriber growth, which has been helped by an improved market for new cars as well as the gradual spread of Sirius’s availability in used cars. The company says that 50 million cars now on the road are able to receive Sirius.

On the call Tuesday, Sirius executives discussed new ! features like MySXM, which is now in public beta testing. Like Pandora or iHeartRadio, it is a custom radio feature that will let listeners tailor Sirius broadcasts to their tastes, and it will compete against those companies as more services push to introduce advanced listening features in new cars.

“MySXM users will now hear more of the music they love tailored to how they want to hear it,” Mr. Meyer said on the conference call. “If they happen to hear a song they don’t like, MySXM will let them skip it.”

Ben Sisario writes about the music industry. Follow @sisario on Twitter.

Apple to Highlight Self-Published Books

Yet another sign that self-publishing is making inroads into the traditional houses: On Tuesday Apple will include a feature that organizes a group of popular self-published e-books together and then gives them prominent display on iBookstore.

The feature will appear under a banner titled “Breakout Books” and remain on the iBookstore’s main page for at least two weeks. This kind of display, known as “front-of -the store” attention, is greatly coveted by publishers because it helps books get discovered, driving sales. After two weeks, “Breakout Books” will remain a permanent feature on the site, though not always with such high-profile display.

Apple, which has long carried self-published e-books and displayed the most popular among them, has incentive to give self-published authors a boost, partly because of price.

Self-published authors often sell their books for $2.99 or less, which is significantly less than books sold through traditional publishers. The savings are poular among some readers.

“Apple is helping to shape a brighter, more democratized future for book publishing,” said Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, a leading distributor of digital books.

Mr. Coker said that many of the 70 featured titles were Smashwords titles. He said the books were nominated to Apple’s editorial team, which has final say on the selections, based on criteria including sales performance and reader reviews.

Apple declined to comment on the new feature.

The Breakfast Meeting: Super Bowl Ads Hewed to the Sentimental or Comical, and Muzak Faces the Music

Most of the 46 commercials that ran during Super Bowl XLVII were either emotional or humorous, Stuart Elliott writes in The Times.  Comic actors like Tracy Morgan and Amy Poehler anchored irreverent spots for MiO Fit and Best Buy, and some of the memorable ads in a largely disappointing crop relied on sentimentality.  For example, The Chrysler Group ran two tributes to veterans and American farmers to sell Jeep Cherokees and Dodge Rams.  Other sponsors, like Anheuser-Busch InBev, used both approaches.  An ad for Budweiser showed one Clydesdale’s reunion with the man who raised it, echoing a popular YouTube clip of a lion named Christian; ad an ad for Bud Light featured Stevie Wonder as a voodoo king casting good luck spells for ardent football fans.  Suzanne Vranica of The Wall Street Journal also covers the more successful Super Bowl ads.

The Super Bowl attracted an average audience of 108.4 million viewers this year, making it the third most-watched television event of all time (the two previous Super Bowls enjoyed larger average audiences.)  Viewership may have benefited from the blackout that shut down the game for more than half an hour, Bill Carter writes.  Baltimore had just scored against San Francisco to widen its lead to 28-6 at the start of the third quarter, making viewers fear a rout.  But news of the blackout carried over social media and caused renewed interest in t! he game before the 49ers came back for a thrilling finale.

The Muzak name, long synonymous with unobtrusive soundscapes for restaurants, shops, offices and, of course, elevators, is being retired by its owner, Mood Media.  Ben Sisario assures us that there is no cause for alarm â€" the lilting instrumentals and pop playlists that infuse our public places are not going anywhere.  Lorne Abony, Mood Media’s chairman and chief executive, said the change was mainly to further integrate the company, though he acknowledged that the Muzak brand carries some baggage.  “It is often perceived as an epithet for elevator music,” he said.

NBCUniversal announced Monday that Bonnie Hammer would lead all of its cable entertainment properties, Bill Carter reports.  The move gives Ms. Hammer control of entertainment channels that had previously reported to the company’s senior executive, Lauren Zalaznick, including the highly successful Bravo channel.  Ms. Hammer’s elevation makes her the third woman in charge of important divisions at NBCUniversal.

Many of this year’s Oscar nominees gathered for their annual luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Hollywood before the Oscar horse race starts in earnest.  Attendees drank blueberry martinis amid a nightclub atmosphere, complete with fake fog, a dj and strained bonhomie, Brooks Barnes writes.

Geraldo Rivera, the television commentator, has often been derided for his stated interest in running for a Senate seat in New Jersey.  But Fox News, Mr. Rivera’s current employers, are taking the move seriously, Brian Stelter writes.  A spokeswoman for the channel said that Mr. Rivera would have to leave his weekend Fox News Channel show, “Geraldo at Large,” if he formally decides to run.

Bookish, a Web site made by publishers to provide information about books and authors in a literary magazine format, opened on Monday night.  The site receives financing from Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group USA and Hachette Book Group, but will include books from 16 other publishers, Leslie Kaufman writes.

The Breakfast Meeting: Super Bowl Ads Hewed to the Sentimental or Comical, and Muzak Faces the Music

Most of the 46 commercials that ran during Super Bowl XLVII were either emotional or humorous, Stuart Elliott writes in The Times.  Comic actors like Tracy Morgan and Amy Poehler anchored irreverent spots for MiO Fit and Best Buy, and some of the memorable ads in a largely disappointing crop relied on sentimentality.  For example, The Chrysler Group ran two tributes to veterans and American farmers to sell Jeep Cherokees and Dodge Rams.  Other sponsors, like Anheuser-Busch InBev, used both approaches.  An ad for Budweiser showed one Clydesdale’s reunion with the man who raised it, echoing a popular YouTube clip of a lion named Christian; ad an ad for Bud Light featured Stevie Wonder as a voodoo king casting good luck spells for ardent football fans.  Suzanne Vranica of The Wall Street Journal also covers the more successful Super Bowl ads.

The Super Bowl attracted an average audience of 108.4 million viewers this year, making it the third most-watched television event of all time (the two previous Super Bowls enjoyed larger average audiences.)  Viewership may have benefited from the blackout that shut down the game for more than half an hour, Bill Carter writes.  Baltimore had just scored against San Francisco to widen its lead to 28-6 at the start of the third quarter, making viewers fear a rout.  But news of the blackout carried over social media and caused renewed interest in t! he game before the 49ers came back for a thrilling finale.

The Muzak name, long synonymous with unobtrusive soundscapes for restaurants, shops, offices and, of course, elevators, is being retired by its owner, Mood Media.  Ben Sisario assures us that there is no cause for alarm â€" the lilting instrumentals and pop playlists that infuse our public places are not going anywhere.  Lorne Abony, Mood Media’s chairman and chief executive, said the change was mainly to further integrate the company, though he acknowledged that the Muzak brand carries some baggage.  “It is often perceived as an epithet for elevator music,” he said.

NBCUniversal announced Monday that Bonnie Hammer would lead all of its cable entertainment properties, Bill Carter reports.  The move gives Ms. Hammer control of entertainment channels that had previously reported to the company’s senior executive, Lauren Zalaznick, including the highly successful Bravo channel.  Ms. Hammer’s elevation makes her the third woman in charge of important divisions at NBCUniversal.

Many of this year’s Oscar nominees gathered for their annual luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Hollywood before the Oscar horse race starts in earnest.  Attendees drank blueberry martinis amid a nightclub atmosphere, complete with fake fog, a dj and strained bonhomie, Brooks Barnes writes.

Geraldo Rivera, the television commentator, has often been derided for his stated interest in running for a Senate seat in New Jersey.  But Fox News, Mr. Rivera’s current employers, are taking the move seriously, Brian Stelter writes.  A spokeswoman for the channel said that Mr. Rivera would have to leave his weekend Fox News Channel show, “Geraldo at Large,” if he formally decides to run.

Bookish, a Web site made by publishers to provide information about books and authors in a literary magazine format, opened on Monday night.  The site receives financing from Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group USA and Hachette Book Group, but will include books from 16 other publishers, Leslie Kaufman writes.